Does the moral requirement that medical research comparing the effectiveness of two treatment methods be done only when there is community level equipoise also apply to research in teaching and learning comparing the effectiveness of two instructional methods? This article argues that it does. It evaluates three claims that the requirement does not apply to research in teaching and learning. One is the idea that the equipoise standard mixes up the ethical rules for practice with those for research. So it applies neither to research in medicine nor research in teaching and learning. The second is the idea that research in teaching and learning is different than research in medicine. The ethical basis for the equipoise requirement in medical research does not exist for research in education and so does not apply. Finally, the point is sometimes made that satisfying the equipoise requirement can be outweighed or more than compensated for by other factors when evaluating the ethics of research. For example, the knowledge gained about the comparative merits of different methods of teaching and learning might be so significant that it offsets any moral demand for equipoise or uncertainty.

仅在存在社区水平平衡的情况下才进行医学研究来比较两种治疗方法的有效性的道德要求是否也适用于在教学和学习中比较两种教学方法的有效性的研究？本文认为确实如此。它评估了三个要求，认为该要求不适用于教学研究。一种想法是，均衡标准将实践的道德规则与研究的道德规则混为一谈。因此，它既不适用于医学研究，也不适用于教与学的研究。第二个观点是教与学的研究不同于医学的研究。教育研究中不存在医学研究中的等位性要求的伦理基础，因此也不适用。最后，有时指出，在评估研究伦理时，满足平衡需求可能比其他因素要重要，甚至超过其他因素所能补偿。例如，所获得的有关不同教学方法的比较优点的知识可能是如此重要，以至抵消了任何道德上对平衡或不确定性的要求。